Iron Man's Underdog
by StarlightMoon98
Summary: Stella Pots had been living with Tony Stark ever since she was seven. Her parents had died in an accident and nobody would take her in even though she was a very intelligent individual. After being switched from relative to relative, she ended up with her Aunt, Pepper Pots. Pepper couldn't take care of Stella so she was somehow able to convince Tony to take her in after she left.
1. Chapter 1

Stella Pots had been living with Tony Stark ever since she was seven. Her parents had died in an accident and nobody would take her in even though she was a very intelligent individual. After being switched from relative to relative, she ended up with her Aunt, Pepper Pots. Pepper couldn't take care of Stella so she was somehow able to convince Tony to take her in. Tony accepted, realizing that Stella didn't need to be continuously watched over and taken care of- she was an independent person.

Soon, Stella and Tony were on very good terms. Being as smart as she was (along with Tony's teachings) she was out helping him work on various projects-including his iron man suits, as well as being Tony's "assistant". There was barely a moment in the day that those two weren't together. Even after Pepper had left Tony still requested that Stella stay with him. Now she is 17 and Tony just revealed to the people six months ago of his identity of being the iron man. Right now, they are in Washington DC, listening to Senator Stern ramble on about how the iron man suit is a weapon. Tony was sitting at the tables, ignoring the senator and instead turning around and goofing off with Stella.

Senator Stern was getting aggravated now and started banging his podium.

" Mr. Stark can we pick up where we left off now? Please." He pleaded with the stubborn billionaire.

"Yes dear?" Tony joked turning back around, causing laughter in the court room.

"Do you or do you not possess a specialized weapon?" He asked, ignoring the comment.

"I do not" Tony responded almost immediately.

"You do not?" Stern pushed.

"I do not-well,it depends on how you define the word weapon."

"The Iron man weapon" He stated as if it were obvious.

"My device does not fit that description."

"How would you describe it?" He inquired as he leaned further up in his seat.

"I would describe it as defining it as what it is." Tony shot.

"And it is..?"

"It's a …hm, high-tech prosthesis" He stated, once again causing the people in the room to laugh. "That is actually the most apt description I can make of it"

"It's a weapon Mr. stark I hate to in-" He was cut off before he could finish the sentence.

"If your priority was the well-being of th-" Senator Stern was offended by being interrupted so rudely by Tony that he was the one to interrupt tony at this time.

"My priority is to get the iron man weapon turned over to the people of the United states of America."

"Well, you can forget it" Tony said, pausing. "I am Iron man." He announced once more, "The suit and I are one. To turn over the iron man suit would be to turn in myself which would be indentured servitude or prostitution-depending on what state you're in. Can't have it."

"I'm no expert-" Stern began but was once again cut off by Tony.

"In prostitution of course not you're a senator!" He said, causing loud laughter, turning around and smiling at Stella.

"I'm no expert in weapons. But we have someone here who is. I would now like to call Justin Hammer, our current primary weapons contractor."

A man in a gray suit walked out, setting a briefcase on the table and looking over at Tony. He was an odd-looking man. He reminded Stella of somebody she pictures to be a suck up to everybody.

"Let the record reflect that I observed entering the chamber and I am wondering if and when any actual expert will be in attendance." Tony remarked, studying Justin up and down.

Justin gave a fake laugh-Stella already hated the guy.

"Absolutely" He laughed, "I'm no expert, I defer to you Anthony- you're the wonder boy" He paused. Stella scoffed at the fact that this nerd had not only called Tony by his full name, but that he'd also just called him a wonder boy. He continued. "Senator if I may, I may well not be an expert, but you know who was the expert? Your dad! Howard Stark. Really a father to us all-and to the military industrial age. We all know why we're here. In the last six months, Anthony Stark has a made a sword with untold possibilities, and yet he insists it's a shield and asks us to trust him while we cower behind it. I wish I were comforted Anthony, I really do. But We live in a world full of grave threats, Threats that Mr. stark will not always be able to foresee. Thank you. God bless Iron man God bless America." He finished, unnecessarily adding in the last part.

"Well said Mr. Hammer." Senator Stern agreed. "The committee would now like to invite lt. coronal James Rhodes to the chamber.

"Rhodey?" Tony said surprised.

Rhodey was a good friend of Stella and Tony and often hung out with the two. People with cameras started furiously snapping pictures of Rhodey as he walked in with his uniform on and a folder in his hand. He nodded to me in acknowledgement as he walked by. Tony got up to meet with him halfway.

"Hey buddy" He said "Funny seein you here."

Rhodey shook his hand and turned to the side, talking quietly.

"Look it's me, I'm here, deal with it. Let's move on" He said, knowing tony wouldn't be too happy with the fact that his friend would be reporting him.

"I have before me a complete report on the iron man weapon written by coronal Rhodes." Stern said. "And uh, for the record coronal could you please read page 57 paragraph four."

"Your requesting that I read specific selections from my report sir?" Rhodey asked.

"Yes."

"It is my understanding that I was going to testify in a more comprehensive and in detailed-"

"I understand a lot of things have changed today." Stern interrupted.

"You do understand that reading a single paragraph does not reflect the-"

"I do coronal just read it." Stern interrupted for the second time. Stella couldn't stand this man.

There was an awkward silence as Rhodey and the Senator stared each other down. Rhodey had no choice in the matter though, so he sighed and began reading.

"As he does not operate in any definable branch of government…" Rhodey paused as he took in a deep breath and shook his head "Iron man presents a potential threat to the security of both the nation and to her interest. I did however go on to summarize that the benefits of the iron man far outweigh the liabilities and that it would be in our interest to-"

"That's enough coronal!" Stern shouted. Stella was mad. Senator Stern was trying to make everybody think Tony was the bad guy here. Tony was the complete opposite of the bad guy! She knew better than to say anything though, so she just sat there quietly.

Now it was Tony's turn to add in. He'd been sitting leaned back in his chair as if this whole thing had bored him to death."I'm not a joiner but I'll consider secretary of defense if you ask nicely." He retorted, causing laughter yet again. Stella was glad that none of this was bothering Tony as much as it was bothering her.

"I'd like to go on and show, if I may, the images connected to your report."Stern said, signaling for Justin to get up.

"I believe it is somewhat premature to reveal these images to the general public." Rhodey defended with a look of obvious displeasure and dislike on his face.

"Carnal I understand and if you could just generate those images for us we'd be very great full"

Rhodey motioned angrily for the images to be put up on the screen.

Rhodey went on to explain that the images the people were viewing were attempts of other people and countries of making the Iron man suit. Tony wasn't listening and instead was using one of his high-tech devices to easily over ride the data being shown and show his own.

"If you'll direct your attention to said screens, I believe that's North Korea." He said, zooming in on a failed attempt of making the suit. Senator Stern was getting nervous and was asking anybody in the room to turn it off. Justin was the one to get up.

"Iran." Tony said nonchalantly as he showed another failed attempt.

Justin couldn't figure out how to stop the images on the screen.

"Is that Justin Hammer? How did Hammer get in the game?" Tony asked as the next video showed Justin together with someone in a suit. He was giving out orders, telling the man in the suit to lift his knee up. "Justin you're on TV look." Tony said. Justin was still having trouble figuring out how to turn off the screens. The committee members had started whispering worriedly to each other. After a failed attemt to turn it off, he finally just yanked the cord out of the outlet, leaving the sound of everybody murmuring left.

"I'd say most countries five to ten year away-Hammer industries 20." Tony said as he referred to the image of the man in the suit spinning 180 degrees as you heard cracks and screams. Rhodey smiled and shook his head as Stella held a proud grin.

"I'd like to point out that that test pilot survived." Justin said, defensive and nervous.

"Point is" Tony said waving his arm casually as if he were telling a story "You're welcome"

"For what?"

"Because, I'm your nuclear deterrent. It's working. We're safe. America is secure. You want my property you can't have it" Tony raised his voice as he slammed his hand on the table. "But I did you a big favor. I have successfully privatized world peace. " He got up and turned to everybody, lifted both of his arms and threw up peace signs-classic Tony Stark for you. Everybody stood and cheered as the paparazzi clicked pictures nonstop. "What more do you want?! For now! I try to play ball with these ass-clowns" He pointed over to the committee-mainly Senator Stern, who was standing up now, irritated.

"F*** You Mr. Stark, f*** you buddy" He said as Tony smiled at him. Pretty immature for a senator to say. Tony put on his sunglasses and blew kisses to Stern as Justin sat and stared at him. Rhodey just put his head down to hide his smile. Tony began walking out of the chamber shaking hands left and right with Stella following behind.

"My bond is with the people, and I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. Because one thing that's proven, Is that you can count on me to pleasure myself." With that, Tony grabbed Stella's arm and walked her to the car.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're getting a lot better, might even be better than your own trainer" Tony remarked as Stella had just taken down her her fighting trainer three times. When Tony took her in, he began having her trained in fighting, coordination, gun skills, and gymnastics. At only 17 she's perfected all of them and that's why she's Tony's right hand man. She's capable of beating him and they both know it. "Thanks" Stella said as she stepped out of the boxing ring and took a sip of her water.

"Take a shower and put on some nice clothes, we're going to Santa Moinco." He said as he walked back out. Tony is an eccentric person, so he goes where he wants when he wants and gives little warning time. Stella was used to that by now. There could be a reason for Tony going or he could just be visiting for fun- She'd find that out later. For now she would jump in the shower and then get dressed.

**In Santa Monico**

They'd pulled up in front of the Hotel de Paris in Europe. It was on the racetrack and as they stepped out everybody was cheering for Tony.

"It's Europe, whatever happens for the next 20 minutes just go with it." Tony told Stella as they walked in. A woman walked up and handed Tony a drink after giving me an envious look-which I was also used to. "We have one photographer from the ACM if you don't mind." She said as two men with large expensive cameras walked up. I scooted to the side to get out of the picture as Tony grabbed my waist and pulled me to his side. "Smile" He said as the cameras started clicking. I was used to pictures (Especially after Tony had just taken me in as it caused a huge commotion in the gossip industry and even now) but I usually stood to the side when people wanted pictures of Tony.

As we walked to the bar many different people talked to Tony, and he gave all of them short yet polite replies. "I like that color on you" he told Stella, referring to her peach colored dress. "But I don't like it when you have your hair in this weird bun" he mocked as he poked at Stella's long wavy brown locks that she's rolled into a neat bun.

"Well I don't like that stupid tie" Stella responded as she tugged lightly on his blue odd-patterned tie.

"Anthony, is that you." Justin Hammer said happily as he walked over to greet the two. "How are you? Your not the only rich guy here with a fancy car." He obnoxiously joked. He looked over at me as I faked a laugh.

"You must be Stella. I've heard a lot about you. Lotta rumors circulating about the two of you" I reluctantly shook his hand.

"Yea. Only an idiot would believe them" Stella retorted. He stared at her smiling as he held awkwardly onto her hand.

A blonde woman walked over and smiled at Tony. Tony payed no attention as he cleared his throat for Justin to let go of my hand. "This is my date, Christine Everhart. She works for vanity fair."

The woman looked over at Stella and smiled. Stella Pots! My editor will kill me if I don't interview you!"She brimmed. "Me?" Stella asked confused. Pictures was one thing but an interview? Nobody had interviewed her since she first started living with Tony. "yea, is that alright? The interview will be scheduled in later." She asked."Sure"

"Don't leave me here with this idiot" Tony whispered into Stella's ear descretely. She grinned at him cunningly as she walked away to find a table, leaving the three of them alone.

"I'm hoping to present something at your expo." Hammer told Tony as they sat down at a table.

"Well, if it works we can find you a slot." Tony said as the woman from earlier tapped his shoulder. "Mr. Stark your corner table is ready."

"I'll be there in a minute. I've gotta run to the bathroom." He said. In the bathroom, he pricked his finger to check his blood toxicity-37%. He was already up to 80 ounces of clorophormm a day. He sighed as he looked up in the mirror. His suit- along with his core, was slowly killing him. He couldn't tell anyone though, especially Stella. He's working on figuring out a way to stop it…or at least slow it down. But so far he's had no luck, so he decided when he's not working on ways to save himself, he'd have fun.

"Got any other bad ideas?" He asked himself. Then a thought came to him and he quickly snuck out of the Hotel.

The paparazzi was in chaos as Tony walked towards one of the racecars in a full racing uniform. It had taken some convincing but Tony had managed to get one of the drivers to lend him a car and also permission to race. He figured if he didn't have much time left to live than he might as well live it up.

Stella was sitting at the table when she looked up to see Tony on TV getting in the racecar. "Is he crazy!?" She thought angrily. She needed to get Happy (Her and Tony's driver) right away.

Tony revved the engine of the racecar. As the alarm to begin the race sounded, Tony pushed down hard on the pedal, swinging through turns and flying past the other cars-he'd driven fast cars before but never like this. He was feeling the adrenaline and excitement flow through him. Stella watched on the small TV as she anxiously awaited for Happy to arrive. She didn't know what to do, so maybe having him know the situation would help.

Tony felt so rushed and exilerated as he whipped through the race track, hearing only the loud screams of the engines. Stella stood up and her heart dropped as she watched a man in an orange uniform step out right into the racetrack, nearly getting hit by cars as he unzipped the top of his uniform, revealing a core that looked like tony's connected to long electric wires that he whipped around viscously, sending cars flying through the air and ripping through the metal as if it were a butter knife cutting into soft butter. The people in the stands all ran and screamed in terror. It was obvious who he was after.

Happy showed up and called out to Stella who was terrified for what was going to happen to Tony. She ran towards him and they dashed to his car, wasting no time. "Go!" She panicked as Happy started the car and peeled out. They had to act quick. Not wanting to waste time convincing the guards to open up the gate leading to the racetrack, Happy drove right through them, causing the guards to jump to the side and Stella fly back into the seat. They were missing getting into a head on collision with the racecars by just a few centimeters, dodging them around corners.

Tony whipped around one of the corners just as the unknown man sliced the front of his racecar with one of the electrical whips. Tony flew into the air and rolled a few time before landing. He was disoriented and shocked along with having whiplash. 'Not what I signed up for' He thought as he shook his head quickly to get rid of his daze. He quickly came to his senses and throwing off his helmet as two cars behind the man collided in a big explosion. People were running rampant. Tony had snuck out of the car just as the man struck it where he was seated.

Tony took a big piece of car he found and slammed the man on the back of the head with it, though this didn't seem to effect him as he turned and swung, knocking Tony to the ground. Tony dodged multiple hits from the electric whips, but one caught him and sent him flying into an over turned car then falling to the ground. Tony had only seconds to come up with a plan as the man swung his whips furiously behind him. Before the whip struck down on him, Tony darted out of the way letting it hit a puddle of leaking gas, causing a big explosion. This didn't seem to effect the man either. "Jeez what is this guy" Tony said to himself as he put out the small flame on the arm of his uniform. The man kept walking towards Tony with a smile of accomplishment spread across his face.

Stella and Happy could finally see Tony, but he was having a hard time dealing with this guy-afterall, they had his Suit. Happy didn't even hesitate before making a sharp turn and slamming into the man, causing him to be crushed between the car and the cement wall.

"Are you okay!?" Stella called, worry and panick written all over her. Tony looked at her and smiled in relief. "I'm fine"

"Get in the car" Happy told him. Tony walked around to get in the back seat with Stella, but as he opened the door, it was suddenly ripped cleanly in half and dropped to the ground with a thud. Stella and Happy both screamed. "Hit him again!" Stella yelled. Happy backed up and drove forward again, crushing him more against the wall. "Again again!" Tony yelled. "Stella hand me the case!" He said referring to the suit. Stella couldn't as Happy was going back and forth. "I'm throwing it to the other s-" Stella was cut off by the electric whip cutting through half the car, just missing her. "Ahhhhhh" Her and Happy screamed once again. Tony ran to the other side of the car as Stella threw the case. Finally, Tony had his Iron man suit and could fight off this nut job.

Tony kicked the car out the way as turned back to face this guy. He couldn't get a shot on him as he was hitting tony over and over-the electric charges were messing up Tony's was caught up in his whips and was being thrown around like he was a ragdoll. Tony started wrapping the wire around himself, getting closer to the man while dodging swings from the other whip. Once close enough, Tony started repeatedly punching him and finally swung the man over him, landing him on his back and he took the core. After analyzing the core he crushed it in his hand.

"You lose!" The man laughed in a thick Russian accent as he was pitting out blood being dragged away by SWAT. "You lose" He repeated.

"Oh my god!" Stella said as she ran up and jumped into Tony's arms, hugging the big iron man suit. He hugged her back. "I'm Iron Man, that was nothing to me" He joked. "What goes through your mind sometimes Tony?" Stella rolled her eyes and smiled.

As soon as Tony knew where the man was being held, he went to go talk to him. It was a prison in Europe and he was in an isolation room. Tony had been granted five minutes alone with him, leaving Stella to wait at the door.

"You come from a family of thieves and butchers." He said in his Russian accent. "And now, like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your history. And you forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed."

"Speaking of thieves, where did you get this design?" Tony asked.

"My father-Anton Vanko."

"Never heard of him."

Vanko (The man's name) stared at Tony a moment before continuing.

"My father is the reason you are alive"

"The reason I'm alive is because you had a shot,you took it, you missed."

"did i?"

"If you can make God bleed, then people will cease to believe in him. And there will be blood in the the sharks will come. The truth, all I have to do is sit here and watch and the world will consume you."

"Now where will you be watching when all of this goes down? That's right, a prison cell. I'll send you a bar of soap."

"Hey Tony, before you go….palladium in the chest is a painfull way to die."

Tony took in his words as he walked out. How would he know about that?

"How was it?" Stella asked. "Good, it was his fathers design, his name is Vanko-father was Anton Vanko. Doesnt ring a bell but i feel like it should." He said. "Let's go kid-nothing for you to worry about."


	3. Chapter 3

Justin Hammer was sitting at a luxurious table in a bright white aircraft hangar as the van he was waiting for arrived."Hey! There he is!" He said cheerfully as Vanko walked out of the van looking confused."What an absolute pleasure. Welcome. Get those handcuffs of him guys, come on. He's a human not an animal." He told the two escorts. They removed the cuffs and Vanko sat down at the table across from Justin as the two other men left.

"My name is Justin Hammer, I'd like to do some business with you. Go ahead and eat. Anything you want we got it. What I saw you do to Tony Stark on that track, that was….wow. you spoke to me. If you don't mind me making a suggestion-You don't just go and kill the guy. You go after his legacy, that's what you kill. You and me, we are a lot alike in a lot of only difference between you and I, is that I have resources. I think, If I may, you need my resources. Someone behind you. A benefactor. I would like to be that guy."

Vanko laughed. "Very good man. but I want my bird."He said.

Justin smiled "Thatll work we can get your bird I mean nothing's impossible."

Tony and Stella were downstairs researching all that they could on Anton Vanko. Jarvis read out all of the facts.

"Anton Vanko was a soviet physacist who defected to the United States in 1963. However, he was accused of espionage and deported in 1967. His son Ivan was also a physicist was convicted of selling soviet era weapons grade plutonium to Pakistan and served 15 years in kopeisk prison. No further records exist." Tony looked down and sighed. "You alright?" Stella asked. Tony was looking a little sick.

Tony took in a deep breath and sighed again, rubbing his face."Yea, just pretty exhausted that's all."He looked over into Stella's worried blue-green eyes. He put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm fine, Stella." He reassured. She smiled warmly at him. "Can you do me a favor?" He asked. "Anything." Stella replied. "Go upstairs and answer the phones. A million different news stations are probably calling for information right now. I want you to clear up what happened in Santa Monico and assure the people that Iron man is still protecting them."

"Sure thing."She said getting up. "Don't work too hard. And don't stay down here all night. Please?" Tony hated how much she worried for him-she never put her needs first. "Alright. See you soon then" He replied as she walked out.

"Rhodey?" Stella asked as she got up the stairs.

"I take it Tony's downstairs?" He asked. Stella nodded, not prodding what he was here for since she already knew what it was about.

Rhodey entered the code to the door that only he,Tony,and Stella knew and walked in.

"Tony. You gotta get upstairs and get on top of that situation right now." Tony didn't even turn around to face him. "Listen,I have been on the phone with national guard all day trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door, and taking these." He said, gesturing to the Iron man suits. "Theyre sick of the games, Tony. You said nobody else would be able to possess this king of technology for twenty years, well guess what- somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical anymore."There was silence as Tony still didn't face walked up and shook Tony's shoulder. "Are you listening to me?"

Tony looked over at him. He looked sick as a dog and weak. "Are you ok?" Rhodey asked going from mad to worried. Tony patted Rhodey's shoulder. "Let's go" He said as he stepped up. But Tony was too weak and almost fell to the ground when he tried to stand. Rhodey had to help him."Hey,hey…are you alright" He asked after steadying Tony. "Yea.I should get to my desk" He replied weakly.

They walked over to his desk. "See that cigar box? Its palladium." He said. Rhodey opened it as Tony took out his core and pulled out the old palladium.

"Is that supposed to be smoking like that?" Rhodey asked.

"If you must know, It's neutron damage. Its from the reactor wall." He handed it to Rhodes so he could swap the palladium out. "This was in your chest?" Rhodey commented,mainly to himself."How about that high tech crossword puzzle on your neck?" Rhodey asked as Tony turned around."Road rash." Tony retorted, putting his core back in and taking a few heavy knew he didn't buy it.

"Look…I don't know how this is all going to work out in the end, but promise me that you'll make sure Stella's alright."Tony said.

"Tony, don't talk like that."

"Like what? Factualy? Realisticly? Sorry this isn't fantasy land James it's real life and things happen."

"You wanna do this whole lone gun slinger act and its don't have to do this alone."

"You know I wish I could believe that. I really do. But you gotta trust to popular belief I know exactly what I'm doing."

Justin was busy giving Ivan Vanko a tour and telling him what he requested.

"What you want them to do?" Ivan asked as he analyzed the suits that were displayed.

"Well,long term I want them to put me in the pentagon for the next 25 years." He said as Ivan walked towards him. "I want to make Iron man look like an antique. I wanna go to the Stark Expo and take a dump on Tony's front lawn. You know what I mean?"

"I can do that no problem" Ivan smiled as he chewed a toothpick.

"Fabulous! That's excellent! Youre our guy! I had a feeling." Justin said enthusiastically as he walked away.

Tony knew there was no way to find a cure for what was going on with him. It was his last birthday party so he was going to do whatever he wanted with whoever he wanted. The music was loud and Tony already had a strong buzz going. "Stella! Come here!" He yelled to Stella through the loud commotion of music and countless people. Stella looked over at him and walked up to him. "Yea?" Tony smiled. "Gimmie your arm." He told her. Stella didn't know what to think, but she gave Tony her arm. As soon as she did, metal wrapped comfortingly around her arm. It was the Iron man suit- well, just enough to cover from her fingertips to below her elbow.

"What's this about?" Stella could smell the liquor on his breath."Just go with it" Tony moved behind her s o that her back was against his chest and her head was lightly brushing his chin. He grabbed her arm where the iron man suit was covering it and put his other hand on her waist. "Tony if you keep acting like this people are going to get the wrong idea." Stella said, looking staright. "Let them, I don't care it's my party. Now put your hand up" He said. They both started giggiling as Tony wobbled a little from drunkenness. He hand was now aimed at an expensive ice sculpture of the iron man suit about 2 feet tall. "Are you sure?" She asked smiling.

"Yes. 3….2…fire in the hole!" He yelled and laughed as he pushed a button that sent a powerfull blast out, shattering the ice. Everybody cheered. "Packs a big punch" Stella laughed as the armor folded back. Tony laughed along. "Well, I'm gonna be DJ for a second. It's my party, I need to be in the spotlight!" He smiled. Stella grabbed his arm as he walked away. "Tony. As much fun as that was it was really reckless…don't be reckless tonight. And chill on the drinking-please?" She said in a serious tone."Yea yea I got it" Tony said. "I'll be back in a minute" Stella smiled as she told him headed downstairs to get Tony his put on the rest of his suit and walked onto the small stage full of the DJ equiptment. People cheered as he spun the record a few times and started off a song. He was dancing around like an idiot, obviously drunk.

"Yes sir, I understand…no. no sir that will not be necessary I will handle it…sir, I personally garuntee that within 24 hours Iron man will be put back on watch" Rhodey said to a man over the telephone. Tony has been causing him more trouble lately. James got out of the car and walked into Tony's house. The music was blaring and there were more people than he expected. Stella walked out with the gift in her hand to see Tony stumbling, bottle in hand, acting like a complete idiot with people cheering him on. She couldn't deal with him when he was drunk so she started to walk out when she saw James.

"Stella." He said as he walked up to her.

"I'm gonna go get some air." She told him as she put the gift on a nearby shelf.

"What's wrong?" He asked. She sighed and had him follow her to where everybody-including Tony-was.

"I don't know what to do." She said as they watched Tony stumble around and fall some more.

"You gotta be kidding me." He said in disbelief. He'd broken some expensive glasses on a shelf as he fell."That's it, I'm making a-"

Stella grabbed his arm before he could finish."No no no don't call anyone." She pleaded.

"This is ridiculous I just stuck my neck out for this guy!"He shouted over the music pointing at Tony.

"I know, I know, I get it. I'll handle it ok? Just let me handle it."

"Handle it- or I'm gonna have to."

Tony had the microphone and the music was now turned off. "You know, the question I get asked the most is 'Tony how do you o to the bathroom in your suit?'" He paused and finally answered"Just like that" He laughed as the crowd cheered and Stella walked up, fake smiling.

"Does this man know how to throw a party or what?" She laughed vaguely.

"I love you!" He leaned into the microphone and said.

"Aww, thankyou so much Tony, we all thankyou so much for such a wonderful night and we're gonna say good night now and thank you all for coming" The crowd booed and awed.

"Wait wait, we can't end it the cake and-" Tony was slurring his words and Stella held the microphone behind her back as she put one hand on Tony's suit to make sure he didn't fall forward on top of her.

"Your out of control"

"I'm out of control?"

"Trust me on this one Tony."

"Your out of control gorgeous." Tony said, obviously too drunk to realize what he was saying.

"It's time to go to bed Tony" She said. She scoffed at the idea of a 17 year old telling a grown man that it's time for him to go to bed.

"Gimmie a smooch" He continued, leaning in trying to kiss Stella.

"Tony stop. You don't realize what youre doing and if you keep it up were going to have rumors out of the ballpark. Your like twice my age how's that gonna sound? Plus you just peed in your suit." I said raising my eyebrows.

"I know it has a filtration system built into it you can drink it" he slurred

"It's time to send everybody home." Stella said sternly.

"If you say so." Tony said. Stella handed Tony the microphone again.

"Stella Pots." He said as he took it and walked down a step. "She's right, the parties over-then again the party was over for me about and hour and a half ago. The after party starts, in 15 minutes!" He announced as everyone cheered loudly. "And if anybody –Stella-doesn't like it, There's the doo-"

As he pointed at the door an accidental blast shot out of the suit, breaking a glass wall, Causing loud cheers to erupt. He laughed and roared playfully. Stella looked over at James who was furious. Suddenly, A blonde threw a champagne bottle into the air and Tony blasted it, causing bits of glass and champagne to shatter over the crowd, who continued cheering. Rhodey left downstairs, leaving Stella to watch the dangerous game of shooting whatever was thrown into the air.

"I'm only gonna say this once!" Everything got quiet and all eyes were on Rhodey, who was wearing a silver Iron man suit. "Get out"

Everybody quietly but quickly shuffled out of the house, leaving Stella and Tony(And also the DJ hiding behind his stand).

"You don't deserve to wear one of these-shut it down!" He said walking towards Tony.

"Rhodey, everyone's out. Come on just take that off and I can t-"

"This doesn't concern you Stella, go make sure nobody gets back in" He said. Stella knew when to stop pushing so she left.

"Goldstein." Tony called out to the DJ, "Gimmie a fat beat to beat my buddys ass to" He said, breaking off with laughter at the end. The DJ started up a song just as Rhodey grabbed on to Tony. "I told you to shut it down!"

Tony blasted the both of them backwards, smashing through two walls and into the room with the boxing cage. Tony landed on his feet while James skidded across the floor.

"Now take that thing off and it put it back where you found it before someone gets hurt." Tony said, nonchalantly walking away. Suddenly, a 50 pound weight came flying and hit Tony in the back of the head-though it did nothing. Tony turned around just in time to dodge another, which flew into another glass wall. "Really?" Tony said. He grabbed the weight bar with a 50 pound weight on on end and swung it like a bat, sending rhodey flying into the boxing cage. "Sorry pal, Iron man doesn't have a side kick."

After a couple swings, Rhodey managed to throw Tony through the ceiling and landing him on the floor above them. "Had enough?" Rhodey asked as he ameturely and shakily flew up. After more hits and throws they fell down to the front room on the first floor where everybody was watching. "You want it!? Take it!" Tony said as he flipped James over his back and slammed his face into the ground. They began throwing punches after punches when finally Tony slammed Rhodey into the counter and it all got quiet.

Tony looked around to see all of the people from his party standing behind the glass wall outside. They were scared and pictures and videos from every angle were being taken. Having enough, he yelled loudly, scaring everybody into running away and clearing the area. Rhodey then picked up the sink he was slammed into and swung it with tremendous force, sending Tony flying into a big lit pulled his head out and aimed his hand at James, who returned the gesture. "Put your hand down Tony!"

"You think you got what it takes to wear that suit?" Tony asked.

"You don't have to do this tony."

"You wanna be the war machine take your shot."

"Put it down!"

"Are you gonna take the shot!"

"PUT IT DOWN!"

"NO"

"DROP IT TONY!"

They both fired, causing the two blasts to collide halfway and create a huge explosion that blew not only the two men backwards, but also blew that side of the house to rubble. After a while, they both regained consciousness, but Tony didn't say a thing. He let Rhodey get up and leave with his suit. What did it matter, he didn't have much longer to live anyway.


	4. Chapter 4

Justin Hammer was sitting at a luxurious table in a bright white aircraft hangar as the van he was waiting for arrived."Hey! There he is!" He said cheerfully as Vanko walked out of the van looking confused."What an absolute pleasure. Welcome. Get those handcuffs of him guys, come on. He's a human not an animal." He told the two escorts. They removed the cuffs and Vanko sat down at the table across from Justin as the two other men left.

"My name is Justin Hammer, I'd like to do some business with you. Go ahead and eat. Anything you want we got it. What I saw you do to Tony Stark on that track, that was….wow. you spoke to me. If you don't mind me making a suggestion-You don't just go and kill the guy. You go after his legacy, that's what you kill. You and me, we are a lot alike in a lot of only difference between you and I, is that I have resources. I think, If I may, you need my resources. Someone behind you. A benefactor. I would like to be that guy."

Vanko laughed. "Very good man. but I want my bird."He said.

Justin smiled "Thatll work we can get your bird I mean nothing's impossible."

Tony and Stella were downstairs researching all that they could on Anton Vanko. Jarvis read out all of the facts.

"Anton Vanko was a soviet physacist who defected to the United States in 1963. However, he was accused of espionage and deported in 1967. His son Ivan was also a physicist was convicted of selling soviet era weapons grade plutonium to Pakistan and served 15 years in kopeisk prison. No further records exist." Tony looked down and sighed. "You alright?" Stella asked. Tony was looking a little sick.

Tony took in a deep breath and sighed again, rubbing his face."Yea, just pretty exhausted that's all."He looked over into Stella's worried blue-green eyes. He put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm fine, Stella." He reassured. She smiled warmly at him. "Can you do me a favor?" He asked. "Anything." Stella replied. "Go upstairs and answer the phones. A million different news stations are probably calling for information right now. I want you to clear up what happened in Santa Monico and assure the people that Iron man is still protecting them."

"Sure thing."She said getting up. "Don't work too hard. And don't stay down here all night. Please?" Tony hated how much she worried for him-she never put her needs first. "Alright. See you soon then" He replied as she walked out.

"Rhodey?" Stella asked as she got up the stairs.

"I take it Tony's downstairs?" He asked. Stella nodded, not prodding what he was here for since she already knew what it was about.

Rhodey entered the code to the door that only he,Tony,and Stella knew and walked in.

"Tony. You gotta get upstairs and get on top of that situation right now." Tony didn't even turn around to face him. "Listen,I have been on the phone with national guard all day trying to talk them out of rolling tanks up the PCH, knocking down your front door, and taking these." He said, gesturing to the Iron man suits. "Theyre sick of the games, Tony. You said nobody else would be able to possess this king of technology for twenty years, well guess what- somebody else had it yesterday. It's not theoretical anymore."There was silence as Tony still didn't face walked up and shook Tony's shoulder. "Are you listening to me?"

Tony looked over at him. He looked sick as a dog and weak. "Are you ok?" Rhodey asked going from mad to worried. Tony patted Rhodey's shoulder. "Let's go" He said as he stepped up. But Tony was too weak and almost fell to the ground when he tried to stand. Rhodey had to help him."Hey,hey…are you alright" He asked after steadying Tony. "Yea.I should get to my desk" He replied weakly.

They walked over to his desk. "See that cigar box? Its palladium." He said. Rhodey opened it as Tony took out his core and pulled out the old palladium.

"Is that supposed to be smoking like that?" Rhodey asked.

"If you must know, It's neutron damage. Its from the reactor wall." He handed it to Rhodes so he could swap the palladium out. "This was in your chest?" Rhodey commented,mainly to himself."How about that high tech crossword puzzle on your neck?" Rhodey asked as Tony turned around."Road rash." Tony retorted, putting his core back in and taking a few heavy knew he didn't buy it.

"Look…I don't know how this is all going to work out in the end, but promise me that you'll make sure Stella's alright."Tony said.

"Tony, don't talk like that."

"Like what? Factualy? Realisticly? Sorry this isn't fantasy land James it's real life and things happen."

"You wanna do this whole lone gun slinger act and its don't have to do this alone."

"You know I wish I could believe that. I really do. But you gotta trust to popular belief I know exactly what I'm doing."

Justin was busy giving Ivan Vanko a tour and telling him what he requested.

"What you want them to do?" Ivan asked as he analyzed the suits that were displayed.

"Well,long term I want them to put me in the pentagon for the next 25 years." He said as Ivan walked towards him. "I want to make Iron man look like an antique. I wanna go to the Stark Expo and take a dump on Tony's front lawn. You know what I mean?"

"I can do that no problem" Ivan smiled as he chewed a toothpick.

"Fabulous! That's excellent! Youre our guy! I had a feeling." Justin said enthusiastically as he walked away.

Tony knew there was no way to find a cure for what was going on with him. It was his last birthday party so he was going to do whatever he wanted with whoever he wanted. The music was loud and Tony already had a strong buzz going. "Stella! Come here!" He yelled to Stella through the loud commotion of music and countless people. Stella looked over at him and walked up to him. "Yea?" Tony smiled. "Gimmie your arm." He told her. Stella didn't know what to think, but she gave Tony her arm. As soon as she did, metal wrapped comfortingly around her arm. It was the Iron man suit- well, just enough to cover from her fingertips to below her elbow.

"What's this about?" Stella could smell the liquor on his breath."Just go with it" Tony moved behind her s o that her back was against his chest and her head was lightly brushing his chin. He grabbed her arm where the iron man suit was covering it and put his other hand on her waist. "Tony if you keep acting like this people are going to get the wrong idea." Stella said, looking staright. "Let them, I don't care it's my party. Now put your hand up" He said. They both started giggiling as Tony wobbled a little from drunkenness. He hand was now aimed at an expensive ice sculpture of the iron man suit about 2 feet tall. "Are you sure?" She asked smiling.

"Yes. 3….2…fire in the hole!" He yelled and laughed as he pushed a button that sent a powerfull blast out, shattering the ice. Everybody cheered. "Packs a big punch" Stella laughed as the armor folded back. Tony laughed along. "Well, I'm gonna be DJ for a second. It's my party, I need to be in the spotlight!" He smiled. Stella grabbed his arm as he walked away. "Tony. As much fun as that was it was really reckless…don't be reckless tonight. And chill on the drinking-please?" She said in a serious tone."Yea yea I got it" Tony said. "I'll be back in a minute" Stella smiled as she told him headed downstairs to get Tony his put on the rest of his suit and walked onto the small stage full of the DJ equiptment. People cheered as he spun the record a few times and started off a song. He was dancing around like an idiot, obviously drunk.

"Yes sir, I understand…no. no sir that will not be necessary I will handle it…sir, I personally garuntee that within 24 hours Iron man will be put back on watch" Rhodey said to a man over the telephone. Tony has been causing him more trouble lately. James got out of the car and walked into Tony's house. The music was blaring and there were more people than he expected. Stella walked out with the gift in her hand to see Tony stumbling, bottle in hand, acting like a complete idiot with people cheering him on. She couldn't deal with him when he was drunk so she started to walk out when she saw James.

"Stella." He said as he walked up to her.

"I'm gonna go get some air." She told him as she put the gift on a nearby shelf.

"What's wrong?" He asked. She sighed and had him follow her to where everybody-including Tony-was.

"I don't know what to do." She said as they watched Tony stumble around and fall some more.

"You gotta be kidding me." He said in disbelief. He'd broken some expensive glasses on a shelf as he fell."That's it, I'm making a-"

Stella grabbed his arm before he could finish."No no no don't call anyone." She pleaded.

"This is ridiculous I just stuck my neck out for this guy!"He shouted over the music pointing at Tony.

"I know, I know, I get it. I'll handle it ok? Just let me handle it."

"Handle it- or I'm gonna have to."

Tony had the microphone and the music was now turned off. "You know, the question I get asked the most is 'Tony how do you o to the bathroom in your suit?'" He paused and finally answered"Just like that" He laughed as the crowd cheered and Stella walked up, fake smiling.

"Does this man know how to throw a party or what?" She laughed vaguely.

"I love you!" He leaned into the microphone and said.

"Aww, thankyou so much Tony, we all thankyou so much for such a wonderful night and we're gonna say good night now and thank you all for coming" The crowd booed and awed.

"Wait wait, we can't end it the cake and-" Tony was slurring his words and Stella held the microphone behind her back as she put one hand on Tony's suit to make sure he didn't fall forward on top of her.

"Your out of control"

"I'm out of control?"

"Trust me on this one Tony."

"Your out of control gorgeous." Tony said, obviously too drunk to realize what he was saying.

"It's time to go to bed Tony" She said. She scoffed at the idea of a 17 year old telling a grown man that it's time for him to go to bed.

"Gimmie a smooch" He continued, leaning in trying to kiss Stella.

"Tony stop. You don't realize what youre doing and if you keep it up were going to have rumors out of the ballpark. Your like twice my age how's that gonna sound? Plus you just peed in your suit." I said raising my eyebrows.

"I know it has a filtration system built into it you can drink it" he slurred

"It's time to send everybody home." Stella said sternly.

"If you say so." Tony said. Stella handed Tony the microphone again.

"Stella Pots." He said as he took it and walked down a step. "She's right, the parties over-then again the party was over for me about and hour and a half ago. The after party starts, in 15 minutes!" He announced as everyone cheered loudly. "And if anybody –Stella-doesn't like it, There's the doo-"

As he pointed at the door an accidental blast shot out of the suit, breaking a glass wall, Causing loud cheers to erupt. He laughed and roared playfully. Stella looked over at James who was furious. Suddenly, A blonde threw a champagne bottle into the air and Tony blasted it, causing bits of glass and champagne to shatter over the crowd, who continued cheering. Rhodey left downstairs, leaving Stella to watch the dangerous game of shooting whatever was thrown into the air.

"I'm only gonna say this once!" Everything got quiet and all eyes were on Rhodey, who was wearing a silver Iron man suit. "Get out"

Everybody quietly but quickly shuffled out of the house, leaving Stella and Tony(And also the DJ hiding behind his stand).

"You don't deserve to wear one of these-shut it down!" He said walking towards Tony.

"Rhodey, everyone's out. Come on just take that off and I can t-"

"This doesn't concern you Stella, go make sure nobody gets back in" He said. Stella knew when to stop pushing so she left.

"Goldstein." Tony called out to the DJ, "Gimmie a fat beat to beat my buddys ass to" He said, breaking off with laughter at the end. The DJ started up a song just as Rhodey grabbed on to Tony. "I told you to shut it down!"

Tony blasted the both of them backwards, smashing through two walls and into the room with the boxing cage. Tony landed on his feet while James skidded across the floor.

"Now take that thing off and it put it back where you found it before someone gets hurt." Tony said, nonchalantly walking away. Suddenly, a 50 pound weight came flying and hit Tony in the back of the head-though it did nothing. Tony turned around just in time to dodge another, which flew into another glass wall. "Really?" Tony said. He grabbed the weight bar with a 50 pound weight on on end and swung it like a bat, sending rhodey flying into the boxing cage. "Sorry pal, Iron man doesn't have a side kick."

After a couple swings, Rhodey managed to throw Tony through the ceiling and landing him on the floor above them. "Had enough?" Rhodey asked as he ameturely and shakily flew up. After more hits and throws they fell down to the front room on the first floor where everybody was watching. "You want it!? Take it!" Tony said as he flipped James over his back and slammed his face into the ground. They began throwing punches after punches when finally Tony slammed Rhodey into the counter and it all got quiet.

Tony looked around to see all of the people from his party standing behind the glass wall outside. They were scared and pictures and videos from every angle were being taken. Having enough, he yelled loudly, scaring everybody into running away and clearing the area. Rhodey then picked up the sink he was slammed into and swung it with tremendous force, sending Tony flying into a big lit pulled his head out and aimed his hand at James, who returned the gesture. "Put your hand down Tony!"

"You think you got what it takes to wear that suit?" Tony asked.

"You don't have to do this tony."

"You wanna be the war machine take your shot."

"Put it down!"

"Are you gonna take the shot!"

"PUT IT DOWN!"

"NO"

"DROP IT TONY!"

They both fired, causing the two blasts to collide halfway and create a huge explosion that blew not only the two men backwards, but also blew that side of the house to rubble. After a while, they both regained consciousness, but Tony didn't say a thing. He let Rhodey get up and leave with his suit. What did it matter, he didn't have much longer to live anyway.


	5. Chapter 5

Rhodey took off the chest plate to the silver Iron man suit and very carefully took out the core, moving slowly.

"Think this is their power source?" A man in a military uniform asked.

"Major, this isn't a scientific exercise, let's just focus on arming it alright?"

"Oh yes!" Rhodey heard Justin Hammer yelling glee fully as he walked up. Rhodey placed the core on the table."Is it my birthday!" Justin obnoxiously continued."What'd you do? Oh" He admired the suit as if it were Jesus himself.

"What are you going to do for us- I'm talking firepower" Rhodey asked, not liking the guy.

"Your talking to the right guy." He said as he walked over to a metal crate his men had brought in behind him. "Coleridge hi-tech semi-automatic 9mm pistol, Too downtown? I agree." He put the gun down and grabbed another. "M-24 shotgun, pump action five round magazine. You know what, you're not a hunter." He said, swapping the gun for another. "This is the FN 2000 from Belgium, they do make something better than waffles. It's beautiful, but I can tell this isn't disco enough for you." He said as he grabbed yet another gun. "your looking at a milkor 40 millimeter grenade launcher, tear gas, smoke, hippie control" He laughed. "Let me tell you" He said putting the gun down and crossing his arms. "Size does matter, don't let anyone tell you different." He grabbed a huge gun from the bigger crate. "This is an M134, 7.62 minigun, six individual barrels. The torso taker, the powder maker. Our boys in uniform call it the gazpacho or puff the magic dragon." There was a silence as Justin, the Major, and colonel James all looked at each other.

"Ok." Justin sighed. He pulled out a medium sized crate and carefully opening it, pulling out what looked like a small rocket. "This is a kinetic-kill sidewinder vehicle with a secondary cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine RDX burst. It's capable of busting a bunker under the bunker you just burst." He handed it to the two men, who examined it carefully. "It's capable of reducing the population of any standing structure to zero. I call it the ex-wife." He stated proudly. There was a long moment of silence as Rhodey thought.

"I think I'll take it." He said.

"Which one?" Justin asked.

"All of it." Rhodes said as he walked away, leaving Justin in clear displeasure.

"Let's find out what all this is" Tony said to Stella as they unpacked the mysterious box downstairs. Stella pulled out some blueprints and read them out loud to Tony.

"Arc Reactor- TFTR-1. Anton Vanko and Howard stark." Tony scooted beside her to take a look at it too. "Open it" he said. "It's a blueprint for your core. Since Anton was working together with your dad on this than it explains how Ivan knew how to make one like it." She said, studying the paper. Tony went on to shuffle through more things as he found a tape.

"Play it." Stella said, popping up behind his shoulder. Tony put the tape in while he and Stella looked through a book full of Howard's research. Playing on the tape was many different failed takes of Mr. Howard giving a speech. At one point a five year old Tony got scolded for picking up a piece to the display. "Huh." Tony said as he saw that half of the book was empty. He put it down and took a sip of his drink when all of a sudden his dad started talking to him in the video.

"Tony, you're too young to understand this right now, so I thought I'd put it on film for you. I built this for you." He said as he gestured to the display of the city. Tony and Stella leaned in, giving their full attention to the man on the screen. "And someday you will realize that it represents a whole lot more than just peoples inventions. It represents my life's work. This is the key to the future. I'm limited by the technology of my time, but one day you'll figure this out-And when you do, you will change the world. What is and always will be my greatest creation, is you."

And with that the film ended. "Wow." Stella said after a long silence. She looked over at Tony, who looked back and genuinely smiled, as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

"I'm gonna have Jarvis do a scan on the stark expo model my dad created- He hid something in there for me, and I'm gonna find out what."

"What is going on in here?" Stella said as she walked downstairs to see that Tony had made a complete mess and had things standing up everywhere.

"Major remodeling." He joked. "My dad hid an element in there. It's a viable replacement for palladium, just can't be synthesized."

"So what are you doing?" Stella asked, looking around.

"Putting it into the core of my arc reactor. Stand behind me." He said as he fired up the contraption he had made. Stella stood behind him as he started up the machine. It acted like a laser and cleanly cut through half of the room before cleanly entering the center of an arc reactor he'd had sitting. It had a bright blue glow to it and then the machine stopped, leaving the core bright blue and glowing.

"That's the new element." Tony smiled proudly.

"The core has successfully accepted the new element. I will begin running diagnostics." Jarvis stated. The phone rang and Stella picked up to a deep voice with a thick Russian accent.

"Is Tony there?"he asked. Stella's heart dropped as she turned to Tony, who could see the expression on her face. He quickly came over and grabbed the phone after whispering to Stella to trace the cal. Stella quickly went to the computers.

"Hey Tony" Ivan said in a dangerous tone, laughing. "I double cycle."

"What?" Tony asked.

"You told me double cycles, more power". Ivan was sitting criss-cross on the floor by the bodies of two dead guards in one of Justin's hangar rooms. Justin had gotten mad about Ivan not meeting their agreement, so he had him babysat while he went to the expo."Good advice."

"You sound pretty sprightly for a dead guy" Tony said as Stella tried quickly to pinpoint his location.

"You too." He laughed. "Now, the true history of Stark name will be written."

"Eastern Seaboard." Stella whispered as she prodded for more information.

Ivan continued "What your father did to my family over 40 years, I will do to you in 40 minutes."

"Tri-state area, Manhattan and outlying boroughs." Stella whispered.

"I hope you ready."Ivan said as he hung up the phone.

"Can't be traced anymore." Stella sighed.

Tony slammed his hand on the table and walked over to his new core, slamming it in. He felt immense power flow through him and immediately felt more energized then he's ever been before.

"We're going to the Expo, that's what he's talking about."


	6. Chapter 6

Justin Hammer was busy giving his speech at the Expo. Stella left before Tony, so she and Happy were sitting in one of the front rows, watching as the "Hammer Drones" appeared. There were a mass amount of drones from the Army, Navy, Air force, and Marines. Cheers were everywhere but Stella was not ok with this idea.

"Ladies and Gentleman I am proud to present to you the very first prototype in the variable threat response battle suit and its pilot, Air force Lieutenant colonel James Rhodes! He announced as Rhodey came upstage, wearing the altered Silver Iron man suit.

"What?!" Stella yelled in anger and disbelief. Rhodey was Tony's best friend! She'd had respect for him how could he do this? Everybody but Stella was surprised to see Tony fly through. There were loud cheers as he landed himself onto the stage. It was time for Stella to go to the back, so she got up and made her way.

"We've got trouble." Tony said to James as he walked up to him.

"Tony there are civilians present I'm here on orders let's not do this right now."

"Give them a wave" Tony said standing beside James as he waved."All these people are in danger we gotta get them out of here. You've gotta trust me for the next five minutes. Stella's on her way to the wiring closet to shut down everything. Power generators will come on and there will be lights on only leading to the way out. We're hoping this freaks the people out a little and gets them out of the building."

"I tried that. I got tossed around your house, remember?"

"I think he's working with Vanko."

"Vanko's alive?"

Tony walked towards Justin, who was still cheering to the audience.

"Where is he?" Tony asked him.

"What? who?" Justin asked.

"Tell me." Tony said aggravated.

"What are you doing here, man?" Justin said, failing at trying to act casual.

"Whoa whoa!" James said as his suit went haywire and aimed the large gun in his shoulder at Tony.

"Is that you?" Tony asked cautiously.

"I'm not doing that, that's not me I can't move! Get out of here! Go the whole system's been compromised!" Rhodey yelled as all of the drones aimed at Tony.

Tony flew up into the air and went out of the roof, dodging gunshots that broke the glass ceiling, showing over the audience who screamed and panic. Stella heard the gunshots as she made her way down to the wiring room- she hadn't had enough time to shut the power down.

The drones and Rhodey were all deployed, chasing after Tony. "Tony! I've got target lock! Target lock is on!"

"On what!?"

"On you!"

Tony dodged many bullets as Rhodey kept telling him to dodge and what the next moves of the drones and himself would be.

Stella walked up to Justin Hammer, hearing his conversation.

"The software's been over ridden" A man told him as he dialed numbers on the phone and men were furiously working on the computers.

"What do you mean it's been over ridden that's impossible!"

"He slaved the drones"

"That's impossible. Call the guards"

"All the phones are down- He's locked us out of the mainframe." The main said as he tried to call again.

"Who's locked you out of the mainframe?" Stella asked, though already knowing the answer.

"Go away, this is no place for kids. I've got this handled." Justin said as he waved away Stella, who continued walking towards him.

"Have you now?"

"Yes, I do. In fact, if your guy hadn't have shown up then none of this would've happened, so go away, thank you." He turned to one of the men, but Stella was going to get answers. She grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back, slamming his face down on one of the tables.

"If you don't tell me where Vanko is right now I swear to god I will break your arm" Stella said, pushing up on his arm harder, causing him to groan in pain.

"He's at my facility! At my facility." He said quickly. Stella quickly ran out to help Tony and find Vanko, hopefully to stop him from having control over all of the drones and Rhodey. Some of the drones were stationed outside and began bombing the stark expo, causing people to scream and run in every direction.

"Happy, take me to Hammer industries as quick as you can, we've gotta help Tony." Stella said, quickly getting into the front seat. Happy nodded and ran into the driver's seat, peeling out and gaining speed quickly. Drones on the ground aimed for Tony as he flew by. Tony dodged the explosions, maneuvering in a way that made a drone shoot at another drone, causing it to shatter into little pieces. Tony decided to get the drones away from the Stark Expo.

"When we get there, watch the perimeter. I need to take down Vanko." Stella told Happy as he zoomed down the road. Tony was busy zooming through bridges, losing a few drones as they collided into a pillar or one another. Happy pulled up to the building and got out.

"Stay in the car." Stella said as he was getting out.

"I'm not staying in the car, you're a 17 year old girl, you can't do this alone."

Stella sighed, not wanting to waste time on convincing him. She took a deep breath. 'Time to use all of the skills and knowledge you've learned for the past 10 years.' She thought. She quickly took care of the lock on the door, setting off the alarm, notifying Ivan of the security breach.

There was one guy at the front that Happy threw a punch at, causing a fight like one you would see at a boxing match. Stella swiftly ran by, opening the glass doors where a man was running towards her. She ran by and then turned on her knees, throwing two small pods her and Tony had created one day that electrocuted the man. She wasted no time as she continued down the hall, leaving Happy to fight the man at the front. The second guy was no trouble, as she used what'd she'd learned in gymnastics and leapt over a cart with her feet straight in front of her, knocking the guy she'd aimed her kick at out. Without stopping, she slid underneath a man, hitting him in the groin as she slid along the floor and gracefully turned, crouching in a fighting stance as another man approached with the one she'd hit laying on the floor in pain. She jumped, wrapping her legs around the man approaching and swinging him into the wall, knocking him out.

Ivan watched on the security cameras as she easily took care of the guards in the hall, making her way up to his room. He quickly deployed more drones. Happy was struggling in his fight against the man from the front doors. Meanwhile, Stella rounded the corner after throwing two miniature smoke grenades that spooked the two guards, disorienting them just enough for Stella to swoop in and kick one on the leg causing him to fall. She jumped up on the wall and kneed one in the face, causing him to smack his head against the floor with tremendous force and lose consciousness. The other one stood up and pulled out a baton. Stella pulled out a small thick cable and used it to stop the baton from smacking down on her. She kicked and punched the guy and then wrapped the cable around his neck, chocking him with it as she took care of another guard that tried to attack. 'Last two' She thought as she ran towards the last two guards remaining. She took them out with a series of kicks, punches, and elbows to the face. Once done she couldn't believe what she'd just did. 'Didn't know I could do all that' She thought proudly as she reflected on how skilled a fighter she'd become. She headed off towards the computer room-which is where Ivan would be.

Tony had been able to take out the rest of the drones that were chasing him, but he couldn't lose Rhodey. Rhodey appeared behind him and slammed into him, causing them both to fall into a shallow lake that only reached up to their ankles. Stella stormed into the room only to find that was empty- other than two dead guards. She ran up to the computers and started furiously typing and clicking.

"What are you doing?" Happy asked, bruised from his one on one fight.

"I'm rebooting Rhodey's suit." She said absently, paying attention to all the codes on the computer. Tony's taught her a lot on computers, so this should be fairly easy for her. She'd been able to reboot his suit just in time for Rhodey not to kill Tony. Her face appeared on Tony's screen as Tony's appeared on hers.

"We got Rhodey back!" She announced happily.

"Thank you." He said, genuinely great full.

"Yea, you can make it up later. You got incoming. Looks like the fight's coming to you." Stella logged off and decided to go back to the Stark Expo. No doubt Justin was still there and he needed to be locked up for this.

"Rhodey, wake up I need you "Tony said tapping on the suit.

"You can have your suit back" Rhodey groaned as Tony helped him out.

"You ok?" Tony asked.

"Yea thanks. Look Tony, I'm sorry, ok. I should've trusted you."

"I'm the one who put you in this position, forget it."

"It's your fault, I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

"That's all I wanted to hear-partner." There was a pause. "They're coming in hot, any second. What's the play?"

"We wanna get to higher grounds." James said looking around.

"Ok, you go up top since you have the big gun, I'll draw them in."

"Don't stay down here, this is the worst place to be."

"You got a spot what's wrong?"

"It's the kill box ok Tony, this is where you go to die."

They were interrupted by drones landing around them from every angle- a lot of drones. They all aimed they're guns at Rhodey and Tony, who now stood back to back as they put the masks to the Iron Man suits down, preparing for battle.


	7. Chapter 7

The drones advanced quickly, shooting at the two pals. Shots and explosions were everywhere and it looked like a world war. Drones were being taken out one by one but there were still too many- soon the two men would be overpowered.

"Rhodey, Get down!" Tony said as he crossed his hands. A red laser shot out and cleanly cut the drones in half along with a few innocent trees.

"I think you should lead with that next time." Rhodey said, getting up.

"Yea sorry boss I can only use it once."

Stella walked up to Justin Hammer accompanied by two police officers. "Justin Hammer, we are placing you under arrest." They said as they walked towards him.

"What? For what!? I'm trying to help here!"He pleaded, backing away. He glanced angrily over at Stella. "I see what you're doing." He said. He suddenly pulled out a gun. The officers shouted a few times before pulling out their own guns and aiming them at Justin. "Tony put you up to this didn't he? He's trying to pin this on me. Taking out the competition huh?"

"That has nothing to do with this!" Stella said angrily. "This has to do with you working with Ivan Vanko and putting hundreds of lives at risk tonight! You wanna shoot me go ahead but if you do you'll be locked up for more than a couple years! This is more to me than it is to you, you just can't get over the fact that Stark Industries is so much more advanced and successful than Hammer Industries!" The police were calling in backup as Stella talked with Justin.

"Of course I can't! Tony has everything! He's better at everything! Can't I just be happy for once in my life!?" He yelled. This was clearly a deep-rooted envy of Tony that would be hard to break. "Well guess what? Tony's about to lose something very important to him!"

Just as he pulled the trigger, Agent Coulson jumped in from behind and knocked him down, causing the bullet aimed at Stella's head to miss and go through her shoulder instead. The officers were quick to react as they apprehended Justin. Stella sat on the floor holding her bleeding shoulder. "Jesus, that hurt a lot more than movies make it seem"

"Alright, let's get you up." Coulson said as he helped up Stella. "You good?"

"I'm fine, I've gotta wait here for Tony." She said as she wiggled out of the Agent's grasp.

"We'll let you, just give us five minutes to take care of that temporarily." He said as he brought her to sit in the chair.

"I'll be seeing you soon. You don't know who you're messing with" Justin shouted as he was dragged away.

Ivan had just joined the party in a suit full of heavy armor, twice the size of the iron man suit. His electrical whips were more powerful than the last ones.

"Good to be back" He said.

"Oh this aint gonna be good." Rhodey said to Tony under his breath. Ivan whipped out his whips, which sent a shock pulsating through them with the loud whir of electricity filling the air.

"I got something special for this guy." Rhodey said with confidence as his armor opened up, revealing the ex-wife.

"I'm gonna bust this bunker with the ex-wife" He said as it charged up. It shot off, bouncing off of Ivan's suit and sadly plummeting to the ground, hissing pathetically.

"Hammer tech?" Tony asked.

"Yeah" Disappointment was all over Rhodey.

Tony and Rhodey proceeded in battle, getting hit over and over and they're shots not doing anything to penetrate Ivan's armor. Ivan was beating Toney and James as if they were deer fighting a lion. Both were being thrown mercilessly and punched left and right. They stood no chance. Ivan wrapped an electrical whip around the necks of both of them- Tony on one, James on the other.

"Rhodey, I got an idea!" Tony yelled as the whip was tightening and shocking him around both of their necks. "Wanna be a hero?"

"What?"

"I could really use a sidekick!"

"That's your idea?"

"Put your hand up!"

They both put their hands up, aimed at each other. "I'm ready go go go!"

The blasts charged in their hands and then let off, causing a tremendous explosion, blasting right onto Ivan. The blast shook through the ground of the entire city. Amazingly, Tony and James had remained conscious. They got up to see the body of Ivan, Armor ruined and flickering. "You lose" He said once again, weakly. Ivan's suit- along with all of the drones, had started beeping red.

"All these drones are rigged to blow we gotta get outta here now!" Rhodey yelled.

"Stella!" Tony said as he flew quickly into the air, racing towards the Stark Expo where she was waiting for him.

Stella's wound had been temporarily bandaged and Coulson and everybody had already left. She was left standing out on the steps, hoping Tony was alright and waiting for him to arrive. She saw a downed drone next to her start beeping red when all of a sudden Tony had swooped in and grabbed her, pulling her into the air when an explosion blew off right where she was standing. She was brought up onto the rooftop. She pushed Tony off when she was able to stand, his suit buzzing and shocking as he ripped off his Iron man helmet.

"Oh my god Tony! I swear to god! I can't take this anymore!"

"You can't take it!? Look at me!" He yelled. He stared at Stella's bandaged shoulder where blood had managed to leak through a bit. "What happened." He said angrily.

"Nothing much…just got shot- but don't worry, justice has been done."

There was silence as Tony sighed.

"You deserve better. You've taken such good care of me. I was in a tough spot and you pulled me through it."

"Thank you, Tony. For understanding me."

"Yea, let's talk clean up." He said, looking around at the city-mainly the Stark Expo.

"I'll handle it, the transition will be smooth."

"What about the press?"

"I've handled them before, I can do it again. I just can't believe you actually b-"

Tony broke off her sentence with a kiss. Not just a little kiss- It was a kiss like you see in the romance movies, and it lasted long. They broke off with a breath. Stella didn't know what to do- she'd never thought of Tony like that before. Tony scolded himself for acting so….on impulse. What's done is done though, and he couldn't take it back.

"That was weird…I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that. Now I feel like some old perv and I just ruined whatever we had go-"

"Tony, shut up, please." Stella said, saying what words couldn't as she leaned in and kissed him, hopefully getting the message to him. She did, and Tony smiled down at her.

"I think it was weird." Rhodey's voice startled the two as they looked over to see him sitting on the edge of an AC unit, raising his hand. "You guys looked like two seals, fighting over a grape."

"You should get lost." Tony shot, pointing at him.

"I was here first. Get a roof" He said as he lightly laughed.

"You kicked ass back there by the way."Tony said, holding Stella at his side.

"You too buddy. Listen…my car got blown up in the explosion sooo I'm going to have to hang on to your suit."

"Not ok. Not ok with that."

"Not a question." Rhodey said as he shot off.

"Well. Let's go get a nice big dinner and sleep forever. I'm tired and I'm hungry." He said as they both laughed.

Tony was sitting in a room full of high tech devices. He was at an old table sitting across from Director Fury. He picked up a folder.

"This is Agent Coulson's report on you, read it." He said handing tony a folder.

"Tony Stark shows compulsive erratic, dangerous behavior as well as textbook narcissism….Uhhh recruitment of Iron Man for Avengers Initiative yes. Let me think about it." Tony said.

"Read on." Fury said.

"Tony Stark not …not recommended." Tony looked at Fury in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense. How can you approve me but not approve me?"

"We would only like to use you as a consultant."Tony got up and shook his hand. "You can't afford me." He said as he flashed a fake smile towards the director.

Tony stopped and turned around. "Though I will wave my customary retainer in exchange for one small favor. Rhodey and I are being honored in Washington and we need a presenter." He said.

"I'll see what I can do."

"It is my honor to be here today to present these distinguished awards to lieutenant colonel James Rhodes and Mr. Tony Stark- who is of course…a national treasure." Senator Stern forced the words. Stern walked to James and pinned the award on him. "Thank you for such an exceptional job colonel, you truly deserve this." He then walked over to Tony and said the same thing, though as he put on the pin he stabbed Tony with it discretely, causing tony to fidget in mild pain. "Oh I'm sorry. Funny how annoying a little prick can be, isn't it?" He smiled. Tony looked down at Stella in the first row and winked. Their future together was just starting.

-End-


End file.
